


Un Autre Cours

by IohannaFacTotum



Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal (TV) RPF, Hannibal Rising (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Comfort, Gen, Nightmares, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 11:26:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IohannaFacTotum/pseuds/IohannaFacTotum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Lecter and Will discuss nightmares over tea, though only one leaves with their fears temporarily reconciled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Un Autre Cours

_"'Anniba! 'Anniba!" Her voice was as clear as the snow falling around her. She screamed at him over her shoulder, unable to turn for the strong arms carrying her into the yard. In another arm was a small pickaxe. Although she could not comprehend why at her tender age, she was afraid._

_"MISCHA!" came the return cry. Hannibal was cut off, kneed in the stomach and held back by more arms, arms without faces or names, only hungry, dripping mouths. Hannibal looked crazed - ragged and dirty and starved and panicked and it only frightened her more._

_A closed door separated them at last and their cries no longer reached each other coherently. Mischa tried to fight back, tried to run back into the house, but the arms were so strong._

_The pickaxe was raised and Mischa thought of the snow soaking her skirt up to her knees, of the arms and the mouths surrounding her, of her mother lying buried somewhere in that snow..._

_The door to the cabin flew open and out of it came Hannibal like an apocolyptic horseman, so fast he hardly seemed to touch the snow. He attacked the arm with the pickaxe, latching to it and sinking his teeth into the tanned skin hard enough to leave a sizable gash in the flesh. The hungry mouth screamed in pain and grabbed him, throwing him into the snow with blood on his face and ragged coat. In the panic, Mischa was freed._

_"RUN!" he shrieked. "MISCHA, RUN!" The arms grabbed him, held him by his hair, raised the pickaxe..._

_She tried, oh, how she had tried. Two toddler-steps in knee-deep snow later, the arms clamped around her again, dragging her into the house as Hannibal fell to his knees and crumpled into the bloodstained snow._

 

"Dr. Lecter?"

The doctor woke at her desk in Baltimore, Maryland, shaking and panting. She looked around, panicked, until her eyes fell on Will Graham. She took a deep breath to steady herself and looked at her watch. It was 8:00 pm. It wasn't like her to doze off.

Mischa tucked a stray blonde lock into an otherwise flawless bun and smiled warmly at Will.

"Good evening, Will. I don't believe you had an appointment today..."

"I don't," Will replied, "but I was hoping you might have time for one."

"Of course. I can always make time for you... You look tired. You just woke up?" Will nodded shakily. "I see. I assume your nightmares are giving you trouble again." Another nod. "Alright, Will. In that case, why don't we have a cup of herbal tea instead of an appointment?"

She was out of her chair and at the electric kettle on a nearby table before Will had the chance to nod his head again.

No more than five minutes later, Dr. Lecter poured steaming, golden tea into two cups of fine china and passed one to Will. His hand shook and he had to use both to keep the cup steady, but the heat alone calmed him soon enough and stilled his hands.

“Now,” the doctor said as she stirred honey into her tea, although her eyes never left Will, “let’s talk about these nightmares.” She ran her tongue across her lips hungrily.

~~~

Two hours later and between the two of them, they had finally finished off the large pot of herbal tea. Dr. Lecter stacked the cups lightly inside one another and set them aside as Will stood to leave, feeling much better and even looking the part, if Mischa wasn’t mistaken.

“It’s late, Will,” she said quietly. “Go home and try to sleep. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need me, I will always answer.” She flashed a humble, disarming smile at him and he smiled in return as he walked through the private patient-only exit.

Dr. Lecter returned to her desk to turn off the small lamp there, but hesitated, looking down at the drawings she had left there.

Arms. Heads and torsos and arms, and hungry mouths, but never faces. There were dark, harsh scribbles where eyes should be on all of them, and there were never any defining facial features. The mouths, though, were unreal in their detail. Sharp, jagged teeth shining between thin, wet lips, wicked smiles curling up to nondescript ear-like shapes, angry snarls and dripping, colorless moisture...

Mischa sighed heavily and stacked the papers together, storing them in a locked drawer in the bottom of her desk.

She would remember those faces someday, and she would make the finest meals out of their cheeks, and the rest of them as well, ideally while they watched. It would be a feast fit for a king, or even for the young count who haunted her dreams.

The light finally switched off and Dr. Lecter locked the office door behind her, digging through her pockets for a business card she had pulled earlier that afternoon and humming "Das Männlein im Walde" as she walked out to her car.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't make this terribly long because I wasn't sure how much interest the AU would get. And I literally pulled over on the side of the road and wrote it in my car. So I apologize. XD
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it and, as always, commentary and feedback are welcomed and encouraged!


End file.
